


Can't stand the rain

by FaiaHae



Series: Coffee Shop AU Prompt Fills [4]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast), The Adventure Zone: Amnesty (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, Kirby is very very sad for like 3 lines, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 13:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18316595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaiaHae/pseuds/FaiaHae
Summary: Kirby has a crush. Jake panics. Hollis goes for it.





	Can't stand the rain

Hollis supposed that “when it rains it pours” could both be a general idiomatic theme and also an accurate summation of west virginia weather. 

 

It wasn’t bothering them too much- they were inside the shop, arguing with Jake, but their heart really wasn’t in it today. They weren’t even really arguing- it had been a debate about snowboarding companies, but it was sort of petering out to Jake announcing something sports-adjacent in Hollis’s direction and Hollis humming with either agreement or derision. Things had been...awkward, lately. It felt like they were both trying to say something and neither of them could quite work up the guts to say it. Hollis guessed it was hard to be roommates with someone you had a major league crush on and  _ ran a fucking store with _ , but they weren’t sure if Jake was being weird because he’d figured it out or if there was another reason. 

 

And there was also the matter of-

 

The bell chimed.

 

____

 

Kirby was having a bad day.

 

The store he worked at was really struggling- and as much as Ned was all bluster and promises, Kirby wasn’t sure if they were going to be able to dig their way out of this one. He’d made up his mind to walk instead of taking the bus- because he wanted to go to the coffee shop and there wasn’t a stop near it- but then the  _ sky opened up. _

 

For a minute, Kirby just stood there, thinking about how much everything  _ sucked.  _ And then he gathered himself up and started walking.

 

Maybe Jake or Hollis would be working. He thought, a bit self-deprecating, that it was way more convenient to have crushes on two people who worked at the same coffee shop, because statistically speaking, it raised his odds that he’d see them when he came in. 

 

Not that he had a shot with either of them.

 

His feet stopped again, almost against his will. Damn, what was the fucking point of this? The shop was going to close, no one else would buy his art, and-

 

He took a deep breath.

 

Coffee.

 

He just needed to get coffee, and then he could go home and have a breakdown.

 

He didn’t make it home.

 

_____

  
  


Jake was trying to figure out how to deal with the whole major-crush-on-hollis-but-also-the-cute-regular situation when the cute regular came in the door, soaking wet.

 

For a moment, he just stood in the doorway, dripping onto the floor.

 

And his shoulders started shaking, and Jake realized the water on his face wasn’t all rain.

  
“Oh.” Jake hardly realized he’d spoken, but it just seemed to make- Kirby- his name was kirby- cry harder, his posture closing in on himself.

  
“I’m- I’m sorry I’ll just-”

  
Hollis hopped the counter, startling both Jake and Kirby.

 

“Jake, grab some towels and some dry clothes.” Their tone brokered no argument, and Jake wasn’t inclined to argue anyway, taking off for the stairs. 

 

When he got upstairs he tried to figure out which of their clothes Hollis was referring to (but it would be too obvious if he grabbed all of his, right?) So he settled on one of Hollis’s loose T-shirts, his sweat pants, hollis’s boxers (and he tried not to think about that one too much) and one of his jackets that Hollis stole too often for him to really consider it his anymore. He grabbed towels, realizing he’d probably spent way too much time internally debating whose clothes to put Kirby in, and booked it back downstairs.

 

_____

 

Hollis was running on autopilot. They locked the front door, flipped the sign to closed, and tugged Kirby into the back.

 

Their bakery for the coffee shop doubled as  _ their _ kitchen, so it was pretty homey, warm brown woods and a couch thrown against the back wall where they could sit on break and watch everyone else bustling through the kitchen (thank god it was sunday and just Jake- the others would have had a field day). 

 

Hollis gestured at the couch, heading over to the counter.

 

“Sorry, but I’m gonna need you to take at least your shirt off before you sit down. That thing doesn’t handle water super great. Do you want tea or coffee?”

 

“I- ah- at least?” The embarrassment in Kirby’s tone was making Hollis blush, so they didn’t turn, tapping the tea boxes and trying to remember what Kirby usually ordered. 

 

“You look soaked through, and I don’t want you to catch cold or ruin my couch. There’s a blanket you can wrap around yourself if you’re embarrassed.”

 

“Right.” His voice cracked a little bit, and Hollis tried to push past their mind trying to imagine what he looked like with his shirt off.

 

_ Having a crush on Jake was bad enough, why are you making things harder on yourself? _

 

Kirby got coffee or hot chocolate. Mocha. Hollis could manage that.

 

____

 

Kirby was trying not to cry more, but being looked after by both Hollis  _ and _ Jake was getting to him a bit. He was bundled in a blanket in his boxers, on the softest couch he’d ever felt, and Hollis turned back to pass him a heavy ceramic mug full of something warm and sweet-smelling.

 

As they did, Jake came running back in, looking a bit frenzied, with an armful of clothes and towels.

 

“Here I think these should fit-”

 

Jake dropped the clothes in a pile next to him, and stepped back, shifting from foot to foot, looking a bit nervous. 

 

Kirby felt tears pricking the edges of his eyes again as he looked down at the pile. 

  
“I’ll, uh- I’ll go to the bathroom-” He shifted, trying to juggle the mug and the blanket, and Hollis turned back and plucked the cup easily from his hand.

 

“It’s right down there.”   
  


They pointed, and Kirby took off for the bathroom with the clothes.

 

It was only once he’d closed the door behind him that he tossed the towel over his wet hair and buried his face in the pile of clothes.

 

he didn’t know what Hollis smelled like before, but somehow, in his gut, he knew this was it. It was like honey and cinnamon, clinging to the black cotton shirt on the top of the pile (there was a tiny stylized gold bee on the breast, the same one on the sign outside, and he smiled). 

 

He took another deep breath, smelled pine needles and something that reminded him of winter and Jake’s smile on the towel, and realized that he was totally  _ fucked. _

 

____

 

Jake didn’t miss the way Hollis watched Kirby walk off, but he didn’t have the chance to be really jealous before Hollis turned back to them, and he realized-

 

He realized Hollis was looking at him the same way they’d been looking at Kirby when he came in the door.

 

Oh.

Something of his realization must have shown on his face, because Hollis raised an eyebrow.

 

“What?”

 

“Um. I, uh...”

 

Jake floundered. Hollis looked self conscious a moment. 

 

“Sorry I- should have asked you before I closed the store.”

 

Jake blinked.   
  
“Oh, that’s fine. I’m glad, actually. I would have done the same thing.”

 

“Then what’s bothering you.”

 

“Um, I-” Jake steeled himself.

 

“-I think I have a crush on you.”

 

___

 

Hollis froze, and their expression must have gone blank- shit, they were  _ not _ good at the whole feelings thing- because Jake stammered out- 

 

“I’m sorry, I uh- I have for a while but I have to be honest, I also really like Kirby.”

 

Hollis couldn’t help it.

 

A little manic giggle broke out of their chest, and they slapped their hand over their mouth to try to hold it back, but couldn’t. 

 

Hollis burst out laughing, and of course, that’s when Kirby re-entered the kitchen. 

 

Kirby looked between the two of them, raising his eyebrows.

 

“Am I- uh- interrupting something?”

 

He looked a little hurt, and Hollis realized this wasn’t nearly as hopeless as they’d thought. 

 

And well, they weren’t one to beat around the bush.

 

“Jake and I were just discussing how we both like you.”

 

Jake wheezed like he was choking on his own tongue, and Hollis was  _ really _ enjoying the blushes on both of their faces right now. They could get used to this.

 

“Um. What uh- what kind of like? Because I- I uh- I really wouldn’t want to get that wrong because I- Uh- I mean I-”

 

Jake laughed, his hands coming up to cover his face as he did, and Hollis loved this, loved it with a ferocity they hadn’t ever known before. It felt good. It felt right.

 

“Kirby, would you be interested in dating Jake and I?”

 

Jake wheezed.

 

“Excuse you, Hollis, I think you missed the part where you ask  _ me _ out.” His eyes were sparkling, and Hollis grinned at him, their poker face finally breaking. The week and a half of awkward silences dissolved, like it had never happened at all.

 

“No need to waste my charms on a sure thing like you.”

 

“Fucking  _ rude.” _

 

Hollis sighed dramatically.

 

“Alright then. Jake, will you go on a date with kirby and I? On the condition that Kirby agrees- hm.”

 

Hollis turned back to Kirby, raising an eyebrow. Kirby was grinning, and the sight of him looking perfectly happy in their shirt and jake’s pants felt just  _ perfect. _

 

“Of course.”

 

Hollis turned to Jake.

 

“Aaaaaaand?”

 

Jake snorted, his eyes shining. He wiped them with his apron.

 

“Like you said, I suppose. I’m a sure thing.”

 


End file.
